This invention relates to improvements in the construction of outriggers and stabilizer arms applied to equipment the nature, location and/or operation of which makes it subject to instability, unbalance or slippage in the use thereof. More particularly, the invention provides an improved stabilizer pad assembly or foot construction for outriggers and stabilizer arms which renders such apparatus and its components economical to fabricate, more efficient and satisfactory in use and unlikely to malfunction. Invention embodiments lend assured stability to and safety in use of the equipment to which they apply.
That slippage and instability has been found to exist in the use of prior art apparatus having pertinence to the subject invention cannot be denied. One source of such problems has been the inability of the stabilizer pads or feet of the outriggers or stabilizer arms to flexibly or readily adapt to the shifting loads imposed thereon in the operation of the equipment to which they apply. The degree of such problems is compounded when the prior art apparatus is used on an uneven ground surface, a slope or a hillside. Such problems occur in the operation of a great variety of equipment used in agriculture, road building and construction, such as a backhoe, for example. Thus the need for the present invention.
Illustrations of the state of the prior art may be found in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,458 Mitchell PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,079 MacKenzie et al. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,942 MacKenzie et al. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,668 Schuermann et al. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,306 Nault PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,828 MacKenzie et al. PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,206 Nault
However, the inventor knows of no prior art which is specifically pertinent to the features constituting the novelty of his invention.